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It's a safe bet that most Americans had never heard of the town of Kobani, Syria, a few weeks ago. Now, however, a common school of thought seems to be, "As Kobani goes, so goes the war on ISIS." In an editorial today, the New York Times declares that the fight for the town near the Turkish border has emerged as a crucial test of US strategy. "A setback in Kobani would show the fragility of the American plan and hand the Islamic State an important victory," says the editorial. If ISIS wins there, it puts the group in position to cross into Turkey "and directly threaten a NATO ally, a move that could force the alliance to come to Turkey’s defense."

So why isn't Turkey doing more to help defeat ISIS in Kobani? Partly because most of the fighting against the militants there is being done by Syrian Kurds, and Turkey has its own tangled history with Turkish Kurds. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to let a limited number of Iraqi fighters cross its border and join the Kobani battle, but his country doesn't seem overly concerned with stopping the spread of ISIS, writes the Times. That doesn't bode well for the US. "The failure to secure the full cooperation of an important ally leaves the success of the fight against the Islamic State increasingly open to question." Click for the full editorial.

Every military pretext we pursue we are sold this kind of garbage to enlist our support. Large corporations grow fatter while Americans earn almost no interest on their savings.

Remy Bourreau

Oct 25, 2014 1:08 PM CDT

I don't give a rat's ass about Kobani OR IRAQ! It doesn't matter one friggin' iota WHAT happens in DESERT SCAM II aka IRAQ! There NEVER WAS AND NEVER WILL BE ANYTHING coming out or IRAQ OR AFGANISTAN that Americans have to worry about. WHERE is their Navy, Air Force, ICBM's?? Ol' Gutless told us all AD NAUSEUM about the "Axis of Evil", but in true GUTLESS Repube fashion he PURPOSELY invaded the home of COWARDS who RAN for his "Daddy" and then RAN for Ol' Gutless, and are STILL RUNNING today from the rag tag ISIS! Yeah, I said RAG TAG! There are 30K members max and if they're so thratening why isn't EUROPE getting involved or is even concerned?? They're NOT! Too bad Ol' Gutless and his Big Bad Ass "crew" didn't have the BALLS to take on a REAL threat to the US! A country with REAL and EXISTENT WMD's like ummm N Korea or even IRAN! Oh, I KNOW WHY because their armies WON'T RUN! Yeah, O'l GUTLESS and his Repube COWARDS!

Gueorgui Gueorguiev

Oct 24, 2014 8:08 PM CDT

We should just turn blind eye,and allow Greece and Bulgaria and Cyprus put into motion their dreams of paying back Turkey for all the misery their peoples have endured while under the Ottoman yoke. That alone will bring Turkey into today's reality, and force them to make the necessary choices, that they are fighting tooth and nails not to make. In all reality , today's Turkey is a backward human rights abuser Muslim country, trying to become part of the European Union, while practically all European Union members are flatly declaring that desire a pipe dream. That forces Turkey to find friends elsewhere in the Muslim world, and that approach is effectively distancing even more Turkey from the rest of the civilized world. In a nut shell, Turkey will be the next fail state when the United Kurds get serious about creating independent state. We should get Turkey out of NATO before that process accelerates and gets completely out of control, or else we will get dragged into yet another bloodbath.